Prof. Watson has been awarded a $50,000 grant by the NSF Early-Concept Grants for Exploratory Research (EAGER) program, that is designed specifically to support potentially transformative research. This project will engage Union student researchers, and is very important to the geosciences community because it could impact could impact how radioactive “clocks” are used to measure the ages of certain events in geologic history. This work may also have important applications in society as it could contribute to our understanding of the atomic scale changes that may happen to nuclear waste containment materials over time as they experience further radiation damage and potential weakening long after the waste has been disposed. See this page for more information.